San Mateo County flush with enough cash to expand work force; even without Measure A funds 'we'd have been OK,' official says

By Bonnie Eslinger

Daily News Staff Writer

Posted:
08/26/2013 08:38:42 PM PDT

Updated:
08/27/2013 04:08:55 PM PDT

San Mateo County's coffers are flush with enough cash it could add 154 employees to its 5,247-person workforce, according to a proposed two-year budget officials released Monday.

And the $2.1 billion budget County Manager John Maltbie is recommending for 2013-14 alone doesn't yet count the $68 million expected to flow in during that period through the Measure A half-cent sales tax that voters approved in November.

Nor does the budget -- which also calls for spending $1.9 billion in 2014-15 -- have to draw heavily from a reserve account as past budgets have done to balance.

Measure A, which was approved by 65.4 percent of county voters, stated that the extra half-cent sales tax revenue would go toward "retaining critical facilities and services."

Budget Director Jim Saco acknowledged in an interview Monday that the county would have been able to cover the basics without Measure A money because of the improving economy, but pointed out that it now can help Seton Medical Center pay for needed seismic upgrades and further subsidize SamTrans to avoid service cuts.

"We'd have been OK, but we wouldn't have been able to add the things we're adding with Measure A," Saco said.

In addition to Seton and SamTrans, the board of supervisors earlier this year tentatively approved spending Measure A funds to upgrade the county's technology systems, provide mental health services to at-risk children, make park improvements, catch up on building and facilities infrastructure work, and expand preschool and child care services. The board will consider adopting those allocations at the end of budget hearings scheduled for Sept. 16-18.

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According to a county press release, many of the planned expenditures were delayed because of the economic recession that hit in 2008 and officials instead "focused on staving off deep cuts to services."

Now that the economy is rebounding, the county is "positioned to invest wisely in securing a stable and prosperous future for our residents," Maltbie said in a written statement.

Most of the 112 people the county intends to hire in 2013-14 would be health and human services employees needed to meet the needs of the federal Affordable Care Act, Saco said.

The budget proposes hiring 42 more employees the following fiscal year, almost all of them for the new jail being built in Redwood City. This fiscal year, the county expects to issue bonds to pay for the $165 million correctional facility, Saco said.

The county plans to spend $50 million this fiscal year and $10 million the next to accelerate paying down an unfunded pension liability that currently totals $960 million, according to officials.

The county also expects to continue reaping millions of dollars in property taxes left over after schools are given their required minimal allotments. Last year, the county received $98 million from the so-called excess Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund (ERAF). Saco said it spent $40 million of that for general fund purposes and $12 million for jail planning and design. The rest went into the county's reserves.

According to Maltbie's budget message, the county is counting on about $61 million from ERAF and expects to spend $40 million of it for general fund purposes in 2013-14.

Saco said the county's projected reserves by the end of this fiscal year are expected to total $202.6 million -- about $82 million more than the 10 percent goal for county reserves.